Bookstore Love
by Slytherin Head
Summary: Severus works in a bookstore, Hermione is dreaming, and her father doesn't approve. It's complete madness! Written for Hogwarts Online Muggle Madness challenge.


_Disclaimer - I got a call from WB, I'm still not the owner of Harry Potter. All the characters used in this story were borrowed because I have no life. I'll return them when I get one. _

**_A/N - This story was written in response to the June Challenge: Muggle Madness. _****_Yes, I know it's almost September. But I just wasn't getting any ideas! Anyhow, the challenge was that there was no Magic, Tom Riddle, Dumbledore or anything magical. Everyone was normal. My character was Hermione Granger. Hope you guys like this._**

**_A special thank you to my super amazing beta debjunk!_**

**_Also, to anyone who is following any of my WIP stories, there is a poll on my profile which might interest you. It's on what story I should update for September. So if you're interested, go vote!_**

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><p>She didn't know why she kept going back. Sooner or later he was going to start noticing and probably kick her out, but she couldn't help it. He was the reason she kept going back, hardly ever buying anything from the shop but staying for at least two hours each day.<p>

His name tag said Severus. That's all she knew about him.

She didn't know if he was single or married. Didn't know what his last name was or what his interests were. All she knew was that she was, as cliché as it sounded, head-over-heels for him.

She knew it was hopeless. He didn't seem like someone who would date a know-it-all like her.

But she could dream right? Dream of him finally noticing her and sweeping her off her feet with a mind blowing kiss.

"Good grief, I think I've been watching too many romance films," she thought to herself as she packed up her things. She had to hurry, or else she would be late for her World Religions class. Quickly walking out the door she never noticed the planner that had fallen out of her bag.

* * *

><p>"You're late, Miss Granger."<p>

"I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall, I promise it won't happen again."

Closing the door behind her as quietly as she could, Hermione then quickly made her way towards her friend Millicent, who had saved her a seat.

"Let me guess," Millicent quietly said to Hermione as she took her seat. "You were at the bookstore stalking Severus."

"I'm not stalking him!" Hermione said indignantly.

"Then what do you call it when a random stranger constantly watches you from behind bookshelves whilst you work, day in and day out?"

Hermione's impersonation of a fish out of water nearly made Millicent laugh out loud. Faking a coughing fit, they managed to get by with a simple glare from their professor.

"Honestly, though, I really do think you should just up and ask the bloke out to go see a film or something, instead of waiting for him to do so. By the time he notices you, the two of you will be in a retirement home."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Millicent. I don't have any romantic feelings for Severus."

Millicent stopped taking notes and turned to look at her friend. " I never said you had "romantic" feelings for the man."

Blushing, Hermione, ducked her head and tried to focus on the lecture Professor McGonagall was giving.

"Hermione!" Millicent whispered.

"Millicent, unless you haven't noticed..."

"I'm trying to teach a lesson here, ladies," Professor McGonagall's voice interrupted them. "This is a classroom, not a coffee shop for gossip. This is your last warning. Next time, I'll have no choice but to ask you to leave."

"Sorry, Professor," both girls said together.

With a nod, Professor McGonagall went back to the front of the class and continued her lecture.

* * *

><p>She couldn't concentrate. Looking down at her book, Hermione noticed that she had been reading the same page for the last half hour. Closing her book, she dug through her bag to find her planner. She might as well try to find something else to take her mind off things.<p>

"Where is it?" she said. Taking the bag and dumping everything on her bed, she tried to find the small purple book.

"Hermione?"

"In my room, mum!"

Hearing her mum open her door, Hermione looked to talk to her. "What's wrong?" she asked as she looked at her mum's expression.

"There's someone in the sitting room who's looking for you," her mother said.

Confused Hermione said, "Millicent?" After all she was the only person she could think of that knew where she lived.

Shaking her head, her mother said, "Not, Millicent. A boy. And quite a handsome one too."

Rolling her eyes at her mother, Hermione stood up from her chair and followed her mum down stairs to their sitting room. Peeking around the corner, Hermione couldn't help but gasp as she pulled her mum into the closet near the front door.

"Mum! That's not a boy!" Hermione exclaimed.

She could hear her mum fumbling for the light switch. "Are you sure, dear?" she asked as she finally found the switch and turned the light on. "He doesn't seem like he's had some sort of sex-change."

Hermione couldn't help to laugh slightly at her mum's comment. "I didn't mean it like that! He's not a boy, he's a man."

"Well, I guess you're right. But why are we hiding?"

"Uh... well... you see..."

"Hermione," her mother said gently putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Do you like him?"

Before Hermione could answer, the door was opened, and her father looked at the two of them with an odd expression.

"What are you two doing in here?" he asked curiously.

"W-we... uhm..." Hermione started to say desperately wishing her brain would begin to function.

"I misplaced my glasses, dear. Hermione was helping me look for them," her mum said, finishing whatever excuse her daughter was looking for.

"In the closet?" Mr. Granger asked.

Both women nodded their heads, not wanting to say anything else. They both knew that he wouldn't believe them but hoped that he would get the hint and just drop the subject.

Thankfully, Mr. Granger knew when he wouldn't be getting any answers and simply said, " Right, well the gentleman the two of you left in the sitting room alone asked me to give you this, Hermione." He handed her the same planner she had been looking for just a few minutes ago. "He said you dropped it at the bookstore when you rushed out to go to class."

Hermione took the planner from her dad. She was glad she hadn't lost it; it had the due dates of all of her major projects. Had she lost it, she would have been in a lot of trouble.

"Wasn't that nice of him!" her mother exclaimed.

"Yes, it was. Especially considering how late it is," her father said in a bored tone.

"Hermione, perhaps, you should properly thank him tomorrow before your first class?" Hermione didn't miss the look her mother was giving her. It clearly said, " Seize the opportunity, and talk to him!"

Her father on the other hand had other ideas. "No need to. I thanked him for you. Besides, if you go tomorrow before your first class, you might be late." Her father couldn't have been more obvious that he had gone into 'over-protective dad mode' even if he had screamed it to the whole neighborhood.

Not wanting to make any promises she couldn't keep, she simple walked out from the closet and said, "I think I'll go and finish my homework now." She quickly made her way back to her room ignoring her mother's comment to her dad that he was no fun.

Sitting back down at her desk, Hermione opened her planner and looked at her assignments that were due that week. Instead of seeing her neat hand-writing, she saw small sticky notes covering each day. Each one had a different message written in elegant spiky letters. Tuesday slot said, " The Cinema at seven" Wednesday was, " Lunch at one 'o'clock"

She knew who's handwriting it was. She had seen it each time he would order a book she had asked for. "Could Severus really have written those notes there," she wondered to herself.

If he had, then it meant that he had noticed her. It meant that he knew she existed and was interested in her. But why? Hermione was the first to admit that she was far from being beautiful. She was just normal-looking. After years of trying everything ever recommended to her, she had finally tamed her hair, so there was no fault there anymore.

But what if it was a prank? It could be that someone else had found the planner before Severus had. Hermione did go to school with a lot of people she'd known since her primary years. A lot of them didn't like her because of how smart she was. "Know-it-all Granger" was what people called her, even to this day. There were plenty of people who would love to humiliate her. Someone could have noticed her hanging about the bookstore every day and put two and two together.

"And if it wasn't a prank?" she asked herself. From the look of the notes, he was giving her a chance to meet with him. All the places were public outings, where there were always a good amount of people around. Enough people that if it were some sick trick, there would be someone she could call on for help.

"What to do? What should I do?"

* * *

><p>"I'm absolutely mental."<p>

Hermione looked at her reflection in the display window of the cinema. Smoothing down her skirt, she tried to fight off the nervousness that had settled in the pit of her stomach. She wished there was some magical medicine that would calm her nerves down. But magic didn't exist, so she had to deal with the butterflies that were flying around her stomach.

She still wasn't one hundred percent certain that Severus was going to show up. But just in case it hadn't been him that put those notes in her planner, she had Millicent with her. That way, if it indeed had been a prank, she could still have a good time with her best-friend. Part of her, was hoping that it was a prank. She couldn't think what they could possibly talk about while they waited for the movie to start.

Looking again in her reflection, she tried not to mess with her hair. With the help of her mum, she had been able to fashion it into a nice half ponytail, with the rest of her curls cascading down her back. Her mum then had helped her pick out a nice outfit to wear. Hermione was close to telling her that she could pick her outfit without any help, but couldn't bring herself to say those words. Her mum looked so happy helping her. She knew that because during her primary years-where she never went out with any boys—her mum never got the chance to bond with her in what she supposed was a rite of passage every girl went through when they went on their first date.

"Hermione?"

Hermione froze at the sound of her name. Looking at her reflection she saw Severus standing behind her. Taking a minute to gather herself, she slowly turned around to face him. She couldn't help the smile that graced her face when she looked at him. He seemed almost as nervous as she did.

"Hi." She couldn't think of anything else to say. She deemed it a miracle she was still standing, considering how nervous she was.

Severus simply smiled and help his hand out for hers. "Shall we get going?"

Another smile and Hermione took his hand. The two of them made their way to the ticket checker, since Severus had already bought the tickets. As the young man was making sure that the tickets were the right ones, Hermione's mobile rang. Pulling it out of her purse, she saw it was a text message from Millicent:

_Good luck!_

Hermione smiled at her friend's message before turning her mobile off. Taking Severus' hand again they walked to their designated cinema rooms and waited for the movie to start.

Two hours later, Severus and Hermione came out of the cinema and into the cool night air. The movie had been amazing, not too scary but not a complete love story, it have been the perfect combination.

The only problem now was that they actually had to find something to talk about. They stood side by side in an awkward silence, neither of them knowing what to say to the other.

As they looked at each other nervously, a big crowd of people exited the cinema, causing Hermione to move closer to Severus. She felt someone bump into her, whispering loud enough for her to hear, _"Tell him you liked the film!"_

Looking at the woman who had bumped into her, Hermione could have sworn it had been her mother. But the woman had quickly walked away before Hermione could get a good look at her face.

"Hermione? Is everything alright?" Severus asked her.

Nodding her head and flashing him a timid smile, she said, "I'm fine."

"Would you care for a cuppa?" he asked.

"I would love one, thank you," noticing another moment of silence approaching she quickly added, "So, that was an interesting film

She watched as he smirked at her before taking her hand on placing it on his arm. He led them across the street to a small coffee shop.

The two of them took one of the tables outside and ordered two coffees. "I thought you might like it," Severus said as they waited for their drinks. "Though I highly believe that technology will not be _that _highly advance ten years from now."

"You never know," Hermione said in a teasing tone. "I could be the one who discovers how to make realistic robots. Then, no woman would ever have to do house-work ever again."

Severus laughed at her comment, his deep laugh catching her by surprise. She had never heard him laugh, not even when someone at the bookstore made a witty joke. She found she rather liked it and wondered how she could possibly get him to laugh more often.

His laughter dying down, he looked at her with a serious expression on his face. Hermione couldn't help looking straight into his eyes; they seemed like endless tunnels, a passage to another time. "I must confess," he stated, " I did not expect you to come tonight."

"That makes two of us then, doesn't it?" Hermione asked.

"You didn't think I would come?"

With a shrug, Hermione said, "I thought that it was someone playing a joke on me. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened."

"I would never do that to you." Taking her hand he kissed her knuckles and said, "If my age does not bother you, and if you would allow me, I would very much like to court you."

Hermione felt a rare moment of utter girlishness, as she fought the urge to jump out of her chair and scream, "Yes!"

Instead she lacing her fingers with his, she said, " I would very much like for you to court me."

Severus smiled and slightly moved his chair closer to hers. "I do wish you would have talked to me sooner, instead of spying on me."

Hermione blushed at his comment. "So, you did know what I was doing, and you knew who I was?"

"Of course I did. I work there every day, morning till night. I have to make sure no one is stealing anything or sneaking in for a good snog. As to knowing who you are, Professor McGonagall came in just the other week and asked me to let you get to class on time for once. That even though we were dating, I shouldn't be distracting you so much."

She couldn't help the laughter that escaped her. "Professor McGonagall thinks were dating?"

"Well, technically speaking, we are dating, now. We weren't a week ago. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I apparently had a girlfriend and had been neglecting her for weeks."

Both of them began laughing, Hermione could only imagine what he must have felt like when McGonagall had marched into the bookstore and demanded that he stopped distracting Hermione.

"Oh, goodness!" Hermione exclaimed as he wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to get you in trouble, Severus."

Before he could answer their cups were brought out to them, after thanking the waiter, they were silent for a while as they enjoyed their drinks.

* * *

><p>From across the street, a small group of three watched as Hermione and Severus moved closer to each other and continued talking.<p>

"Well, about time!" the youngest of the three said.

"He's too old for her!"

"Oh, hush, Harold." the other woman said.

"Mr. Granger, aren't you older than your wife?"

There was a small silence before the man spoke. "Only by fifteen years, Millicent. I'm sure this bloke is older than me."

Bursting into a fit of giggles, Millicent said, "Actually sir, I've asked around, and Severus is the same age as your wife."

Both women looked at Harold Granger as he tried to come up with an excuse as to why Hermione shouldn't date Severus. After a couple of minutes of complete silence, Susan Granger grabbed Millicent's arm and began walking towards her car. "Would you like to come back to the house for a nice cup of tea?"

"Yes, please. Thank you, Mrs. Granger."

Arm in arm, the two women paid no attention to the fact that the third member of their group had yet to catch up with them.

"You better treat my little girl with respect, Snape," he murmured out loud. Watching as the two seemed to share a joke. "Otherwise, I'll break your nose and bring your little bookstore to ruins." With that threat, he turned and quickly made his way to where he had parked his car. The girls may have left him behind, but he had the keys to both the car and the house.


End file.
